USA vs. Australia Match Diary & Player Ratings

An opportunity for the older players to prove they're not dead yet

Will it be disappointment or total disappointment for the USWNT tonight? None of the players wanted to be playing for a bronze medal. Which speaks to the level of success they’ve had; for most people, playing for a bronze medal would be the experience of a lifetime. I’d love a bronze medal; it’s a conversation starter, proof to my future kids that Dad wasn’t always a total loser, and something I can pawn that would provide a clear marker of when “rock bottom” occurred.

The old guard have an opportunity to prove that it’s not time to put them out on an ice floe just yet -- Andonovski is sticking with the veterans for this match. Here’s the lineup, which is roughly what it’s been since about 2002:

Rapinoe | Lloyd | Press

Horan | Ertz | Sam Mewis

Dunn | Davidson | Sauerbrunn | O’Hara

Franch

Franch starts in goal for the injured Alyssa Naeher. Obviously, the best name at these games is Hansel Parchment, which sounds like a boy in a fairy tale who finds a quill pen that writes the future, but I like the melodic verve of “Adrianna Franch”.

Nothing like a bronze medal match in an empty stadium! Here’s kickoff…

1’ - FWIW, I have no idea how we match up against Australia. We played them in this tournament, but that game was a joke; both teams were through to the knockout round and happy with a draw. It had the energy of an 8AM over-40 pub league game.

8’ - GOAL USA!!! Holy shit -- Rapinoe scores a gol Olimpico! And at the Olympics -- very on-brand! Should I mention that the goalkeeping was terrible? No, I should not!

17’ - GOAL AUSTRALIA! Davidson gives it away in the back, and the Aussies make us pay. Franch got a hand on it but couldn’t keep it out.

21’ - GOAL USA! We take the lead right back! Australia with some horrific defending -- really, they should be locked up in The Hague for that, that was horrendous -- and Rapinoe takes advantage with an outstanding volley into the top corner! Rapinoe is definitely making her case that she shouldn’t be turned into Soylent Green just yet.

33’ - We’re seeing some shaky punches from Franch. If I’m Australia, my strategy is clear: Pump long balls into the box, because the American defense struggles in the air.

39’ - The Aussies have an absolute death wish the way they’re playing the ball at the back; we just saw an under-pressure two-yard back pass to the ‘keeper, who played it right to Rapinoe. They’re lucky it’s not three.

41’ - Rapinoe goes down in the box! There’s no call, but IMHO: That’s a penalty. This is nuts: Against Canada, the ref gave a penalty against Davidson, who kicked a Canadian player who came from behind and put herself between Davidson’s foot and the ball at the last second. Here, Rapinoe gets kicked, and she was standing in front of the Australian player the whole time. This only makes sense if the Australian player didn’t touch Rapinoe at all (though it looks like she did).

45’ + 1’ - GOAL USA!!! Carli Lloyd with a great goal! Horan wins it in midfield and plays in Lloyd, who controls it with her right and slams it home with her left. This is really something: We’re not just playing well and scoring -- it’s the geezers who are scoring.

HALF TIME: 3-1 USA. These teams actually came to play today. I guess one advantage of having a team that’s mostly 30-somethings instead of 20-something is that they’re less prone to sulking.

51’ - ANOTHER GOAL! 4-1! Carli Lloyd again -- she steals a misplayed back pass and makes no mistake with the finish. The Australian players are glaring at each other -- was it the goalkeeper’s fault or the defender’s? I’ve got no dog in this fight, so I hope they come to me for a verdict: It was kind-of both, but mostly the defender’s. You’re asking the ‘keeper to come too far out to collect that pass.

53’ - GOAL AUSTRALIA! Well…huh. 4-2. Now look who’s trying to prove they’re not dead! A cross finds an Australian player wide open in the box, and she heads it to the far post.

55’ - Australia almost score again! A header goes off the inside of the post and back across the goal! WOW, that would have made things interesting.

57’ - Of all the things about this team I don’t understand, one of the biggest is how we’ve completely forgotten how to mark players in the box. We know social distancing outdoors is basically over, right? You’re allowed to stand near the other players.

60’ - Lavelle is on for Mewis, and Heath replaces Rapinoe. Will this be the last time we see Rapinoe for the national team? My guess is that it won’t be. One reason for that is that the women make most of their money through the national team, not their club teams, so they have an incentive to stick around.

68’ - Julie Foudy is giving the ages players will be at the next World Cup (“Lloyd 41, Rapinoe 38…”) and asking “will they still be playing?” It’s insane that that’s even a question. You can’t win a World Cup using mid-to-late ‘30s players any more than you can stage a high-end fashion show using mid-50s dudes from a Midwestern bowling league.

85’ - There are chances at both ends here. We’re not so much “seeing this one out” as “trying to score the fifth” (which is not necessarily bad).

90’ - GOAL AUSTRALIA! 4-3! Wow, a “laser” (Doctor Evil pronunciation) from 25 yards left Franch with no Chanch! Can Australia come all the way back?

90’ + 6’ - No they can’t! We win 4-3, and now’s the point at which all of us should remember that winning a bronze medal is about ten times more difficult than anything most of us will do in our entire lives.

Ratings for this match (first) and the tournament (second):

Andonovski: 5, 4. He probably did just enough to keep his job. But this team didn’t perform well, so if we don’t show improvement in the next year, I’d expect US Soccer to make a change before WC qualifying.

Franch: 4, 4. Not really at fault on any of the goals, but struggled in the air and with her feet.

Dunn: 5, 5. Credit to Dunn for playing almost every minute of the tournament. The fact that basically nobody seems to really be challenging her for her spot is a bit troubling.

Davidson: 4, 5. We have a center back problem. Dahlkemper had a surprisingly bad tournament, and Sauerbrunn is 36. Davidson looks like maybe the best option going forward, but she didn’t exactly blow everyone away.

Sauerbrunn: 6, 6. Chiellini won the Euros at age 36, and we talked about him like he was a caveman from 50,000 BC who had been thawed out and pushed onto the field. Sauerbrunn is 36 and we’re saying: “Will she play in the World Cup?”

O’Hara: 6, 5. She was finally more involved in the attack today. Unlike left back, I at least know who the heir apparent is at this position: Sonnett.

Ertz: 7, 7.5. Always a good player, she’s now indispensable. And she’s only 29, which basically makes her part of the youth movement on this team.

Horan: 6, 7. Same as Ertz (except that she’s 27). At least we have 2/3 of a midfield.

Sam Mewis: 7, 5. I feel like we finally saw her best today after a subpar tournament.

Press: 6.5, 5. In a tournament in which our attack was about as potent as Michelob Ultra, she showed a bit of something. Though sometimes she shoots when she should pass.

Rapinoe: 8, 5. She can’t really beat anyone on the dribble anymore, but she proved that she can still do damage if you put the ball on her right foot.

Lloyd: 8, 4.5. You could do worse than to retire after scoring two goals in a medal-winning game.

Lavelle: 5, 5. One last comment on Lavelle’s shorts adventure (because I don’t want to sexualize female athletes but she’s putting me in a tough spot by spending the entire tournament fidgeting with her shorts): Today, finally, it seemed that she found some system that allowed her shorts to just stay rolled up. So, if we got nothing else out of this tournament, we got that.

Heath: 4, 5. She’s the one underperforming player who has an excuse: She had been hurt prior to the tournament. But I was surprised how little she showed.

Morgan: NR, 3.5. In my opinion, she needs to add some checking-in-with-the-midfield and holdup play to her game. She might have developed bad habits playing mediocre opponents who allow her to always get behind the defense.

Sonnett: NR, 5. I think she’s the incumbent right back for the next year.

Dahlkemper: NR, 3. “Bad tournament” sounds a lot worse than “three bad games.” But it was just three bad games. Could just be a fluke.

Naeher: NR, 6. Along with Ertz and Horan, one of the few players whose place on the team isn’t immediately under threat.

Williams: NR, 5. Had a goal and an assist against the Netherlands, but did so little against Canada that she didn’t even make the bench for the Australia match. Still, I think she’ll get plenty of chances next year.

Krueger, Macario, Kristie Mewis: NR, NR, NR, NR, NR, NR, NR, NR, NR, NR, NR, NR, NR, NR, NR, NR, NR, NR. These players didn’t get on the field much. On the one hand: A bench player is going to have a real tough time displacing a multiple World Cup-winning national team legend in the middle of a tournament. On the other hand: Did you see how our multiple World Cup-winning national team legends were playing?

Campbell: 10, 10. As I always say about third goalkeepers: Your goal is to be a mensch and not make waves. All indications are that she did that, so great tournament!